Those tests have expected answers, and if the kid over-thinks the answer, they will sometimes fail to get the expected one. I once (I was about 6) took an IQ test where I was expected to put pictures in order. I consiously rejected info provided by a weather vane and priveledged info from atmospheric conditions (which were at odds). The examiner happened to be surprised, and asked me if I thought I had it backwards, and I told her, off-handedly, that I'd been confused by the weather vane at first, but thought I had it right now. I remember because I was so deeply shocked that neither the tester nor the test-designers knew anything about sunrises, and the tester reported to my parents that she couldn't give me the points for that and it had made a big difference. Cultural literacy is also required, and a vocabularly which matches the test (both language/dialect -issues, AND words-for-what-I-think-about issues). I remember a story about a young boy from a non-western farming background who identified that the elephant in the picture shown was missing his testicles, and only confirmed that he had also noticed the missing leg when asked about it specifically. He understood his intelligence was being tested, and felt that the gelding issue must be the target and the leg a distractor.
Michaela, thank you for posting this - I thought this was just me! I always miss the obvious and find the obscure. It gets me in to trouble constantly. It used to upset me because I always felt stupid as a result (and based on the reactions of people who didn't know me, this is often how it came across). These days (thanks to trying to understand dd) I've come to accept I'm actually pretty smart, but I do think in an usual way. So I'll never ace a short answer test because I'll often just have to make my best guess at what they wanted the question to mean, but ask me to come up with an unusual solution and I'm your woman!
